Who would refuse when acquiring a fiendgod projection stronger than one's own combat prowess was this effortless?
Xin Hongzhang was on the verge of agreeing when, at the critical moment, an intuitive flash struck him, and he looked back at Li Fan.
"Then... what is the price?"
"How could such good fortune simply drop from the sky without a catch?"
Seeing him still putting up resistance, Li Fan smiled enticingly once more. "The price? That vastly compassionate saint could originally have attained a transcendent realm beyond immortality. Yet now, he can only turn his own body into a prison to suppress myriad fiendgods...
"Does that not count as a price? It is only that the saint was merciful enough to shoulder all the calamities on our behalf. If those fiendgods were still running rampant, summoning them would surely require sacrificing one's own soul.
"If you are truly grateful, you need only praise the saint's benevolence each day."
With Li Fan's explanation, everything made complete sense.
Every shred of doubt in Xin Hongzhang's heart dissolved, and he couldn't help asking, "May I ask what the saint's venerable title is...?"
"Once you master God Descends upon the Body, you will naturally know." As Li Fan spoke, he tapped lightly toward Xin Hongzhang.
The contents of this unfathomable secret art surged into Xin Hongzhang's mind like a tidal wave.
"A supreme art indeed, truly extraordinary!"
Merely reading between the lines, Xin Hongzhang caught a glimpse of the profound mysteries of God Descends upon the Body. Compared to every spell and technique he had cultivated in his lifetime, the difference was like heaven and earth.
He became hopelessly immersed in the wonderful art.
By the time Xin Hongzhang came to his senses, Li Fan had vanished without a trace.
"Relieving suffering and distress, compassion for the mortal realm," Xin Hongzhang murmured under his breath.
Having obtained the secret art, his first priority was naturally to find a place to cultivate it.
Suppressing the excitement in his chest, Xin Hongzhang returned to the defensive fortress of Jiushan Province.
Paying a hefty sum to rent a cultivation chamber with the highest privacy rating, Xin Hongzhang sat cross-legged inside and began cultivating according to the method described in God Descends upon the Body.
Darkness quietly descended upon the secluded chamber.
Xin Hongzhang felt as though he had returned once more to that boundless ghostly domain where the myriad fiendgods resided.
Yet unlike the horrifying scene he had witnessed earlier, with its howling gusts of yin wind and shrieking ghosts and wailing deities, this ghostly domain now appeared frozen in absolute stillness.
High above the myriad fiendgods, a blurry silhouette imbued with profound sorrow and compassion was faintly discernible, radiating beams of warm light.
The fear in Xin Hongzhang's heart gradually dissipated. Filled with excitement and reverence, he bowed respectfully toward the figure in the sky.
His spiritual intent then drifted among the myriad fiendgods, continuously seeking resonance.
As he drifted past one of the fiend statues, his heart suddenly stirred.
Chanting incantations under his breath, the fiend statue snapped its eyes open the very next moment.
The frozen ghostly domain shattered with a deafening rumble, and in reality, a majestic fiendgod with eight heads and eight arms materialized before Xin Hongzhang.
"It's actually Shetuoluo!"
Xin Hongzhang was instantly thrilled beyond measure.
According to the records of the secret art, Shetuoluo's strength ranked among the top hundred of the myriad fiendgods! He never expected to be blessed with such incredible luck!
Xin Hongzhang attempted to communicate with the fiendgod projection before him using his divine sense. A dark, viscous sensation crept along his divine sense and extended directly into his sea of consciousness.
Xin Hongzhang was startled, but soon, the feeling of Shetuoluo responding as obediently as his own limbs put his worries to rest.
Directing Shetuoluo to perform an attack, Xin Hongzhang could not conceal the delight on his face.
"This fiendgod was just summoned, yet it's already stronger than Fellow Daoist Fan Li's three fiends. If I pass God Descends upon the Body on to other cultivators..."
Xin Hongzhang instantly drifted into reverie.
"No mediocre talents, no arrogant fools, no scoundrels without a conscience..."
Xin Hongzhang recalled the selection criteria Fan Li had given him and began pondering suitable candidates.
***
Meanwhile.
Thousands of li away, Li Fan, who saw Xin Hongzhang's every expression clearly through Shetuoluo, wore a satisfied smile.
The so-called myriad fiendgods were naturally none other than the thought avatars Li Fan had formed through cultivating the Bright Spirit Method of Three Disasters and a Hundred Tribulations.
The secret art of God Descends upon the Body was, in truth, using the cultivator themselves as a petri dish, summoning Li Fan's thought avatars to dwell within them.
What seemed like effortless control as extensions of one's own limbs was actually the thought avatar reading the cultivator's consciousness and acting spontaneously.
It was equivalent to Li Fan fostering a fragment of his own consciousness within another cultivator,
nourishing and growing it with their divine sense.
Making a wedding gown for someone else without ever knowing it—such was the outcome of cultivating God Descends upon the Body.
"At present, the strength of my divine sense is equal to or even greater than that of a Dao Integration powerhouse. If I use this method, with thousands upon thousands of cultivators serving as breeding grounds for my spiritual thoughts...
"Its strength will expand hundreds and thousands of times over. A truly unexpected windfall.
"Furthermore, what is even better is that when my thought avatars reside within these cultivators' seas of consciousness, they can subtly influence and reshape their thoughts over time, making them completely at my beck and call."
"Hehehe..." Li Fan could not help letting out a dark, low chuckle.
He could already envision vast numbers of cultivators across the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals succumbing to this secret art.
"Widespread dissemination is bound to attract the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals' attention.
"Its characteristics are already so pronounced. Once Mo Rubin learns of this, he will definitely be able to tell that this is the handiwork of a former comrade from the Profound Heaven Sect...
"All I need to do is sow a few more seeds."
Li Fan's figure flickered as he took flight, departing Jiushan Province.
Next, he traveled through various provinces of the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Only after quietly enticing eighty cultivators to cultivate God Descends upon the Body did he finally stop.
Including Xin Hongzhang from the beginning, there were eighty-one cultivators in the first batch.
"Hmm? That lad moved quite fast. There are already second-generation cultivators so soon." After sensing for a moment, Li Fan was thoroughly pleased with Xin Hongzhang's efficiency.
"In half a year at most, the numbers will be quite substantial.
"Soon. Very soon." Content, Li Fan returned.
During the period of his diligent sowing, exactly as Xin Hongzhang had predicted, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals issued a public announcement proclaiming the establishment of the first free trade province in Jiushan Province.
For a time, the world was shaken. Countless cultivators yearning for the Five Elders Association and those seeking to strike it rich and turn their fortunes around surged into Jiushan Province in droves.
Published alongside the announcement were numerous detailed regulations.
Among them were Jiushan Province's development plan for the next hundred years, as well as rules governing the allocation of resources and power.
The most eye-catching clause among them stated that ordinary cultivators were not eligible to purchase cave residences or land parcels in Jiushan Province. Only those who made outstanding contributions to Jiushan Province's development would possess that right. Moreover, to prevent the rich and powerful from pulling strings behind the scenes, all land transactions had to be published and publicly displayed via the Heavenly Profound Mirror.
Should any corruption exist, any cultivator could report it.
The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals would investigate thoroughly to the very end and tolerate no wrongdoing!
Chapter 948